look, it's not the big companies anymore that are engaged in international competition. it's the small and medium businesses that are, too. we just feel that if we keep taxing our job creators, our businesses, at higher rates than our foreign competitors are taxing theirs, it will cost us economic growth. more to the point, when we keep raising taxes in washington, for ephemeral promises that never materialize, we are not fixing the problem. >> let me get to that topic. the "wall street journal" says even the $600 billion in spending cuts in stage one are worth grabbing as part of a debt ceiling vote. more broadly, democrats in the gang are making a big concession by saying the tax rate should go down, not up. >> i agree with that. >> even obama-care must be reformed. why not grab what you can? >> that's what i want to do. >> and worry about reducing the taxes down the road. >> i think that's what we're going to do. >> if they don't materialize, you can revert and raise taxes down the road. >> i think that's what we should do is grab the kind of spending cuts we can righ